Thinkpad Lowlight Mod

Anyone ever consider replacing the Thinklight with a UV light, and painting the keys with UV paint? I was thinking this might make a cool-usable lowlight mod. Comments?

 

Isn't UV moderately poisonous to humans? Do you mean a blacklight?

 

Blacklight is low level UV and AFAIK, safe.

 

i dont even have the slightest clue as to what size the bulb/led is. Sounds like a neat mod though.

 

Yea..if lenovo puts a less powerful light..we will just put a more powerful one back in =D

 

I think this is a *great* idea.

Since the keys are already white, would you even need to use a UV paint?

 

It is a good idea, but that little slit is a bit to small to try to replace the bulb or whatever they use. It looks like it would require to take the bezel off at least.

 

I never thought of it but it sounds like a pretty cool mod

 

i wish lenovo will install the think light under the keyboard somewhat like a phone key pad ?

 

That would be real nice. the macbook pro is exactly what I prefer for keylighting.

With that said - its hard to find all the extra goodies the thinkpad gives you by default so I cant really complain much

 

yeah overall i prefer my thinkpad to a macbook.

 

The only thing I'm concerned about is the reflectivity of the keys and the blacklight in your eye. Comments?

 

If you want to see what the keys will look like under UV illumination, buy a cheap UV flashlight (as cheap as $1.53 shipped) from Deal Extreme: LINK. You could mod the install so that the light isn't directed toward your eyes at all.

 

Jackboot, I did that The keys themselves are reflective of the light. It didn't bother me too much(FYI, they don't glow much as they are - they need UV paint, IMHO) but it might be detrimental to your eyes... That's my concern.

 

I second that.

I also think a neat idea would be to have an adjustable LED, or one on the left and/or right side of the screen bezel so you could shine a bit of light on the page next to you. Though I suppose that's a bit overkill.

 

From Wikipedia:

From that statement (albeit not an 'official' word on the matter) it sounds like UV light is no more harmful than sunlight unless you have prolonged exposure. If you aimed the LED down at the keyboard and got one with a narrow beam pattern so that only the keyboard was illuminated I think safety would be a non-issue. Looking at UV-illuminated objects isn't a concern - looking directly at UV light is.